We, the members
of the Smithland Baptist Church, relying on the truth of the Holy Scriptures,
the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and the prayer of our living Lord, "That they
all may be one.that the world may believe that thou hast sent me," do in the
name and by the authority of the risen Lord of the Great Commission beseech our
brothers in Christ on the Southern Baptist Convention BWA Study Committee and
the SBC Executive Committee to consider the cataclysmic ecclesiastical and
missiological consequences of the proposed recommendation that the Southern
Baptist Convention withdraw membership and financial support from the Baptist
World Alliance.

We, the people
of the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention, believe our elected officers
and committee members have a solemn obligation to provide full and accurate
information to the Baptist constituency when making global recommendations that
affect every cooperating church and Great Commission Christian. Broad, sweeping
accusations and indictment for heresy based on hearsay, rather than documented
evidence, has seldom been the Baptist way. And any civilized court would grant
the accused a hearing or representation before pronouncing a guilty verdict. To
fail to do so is not only a miscarriage of justice; for believers it is a clear
disregard of the teachings of our Lord.

We further
affirm our conviction that our relationship to the two hundred and eleven
Baptist bodies which constitute the Baptist World Alliance has brought many
blessings and benefits to Southern Baptists. A few among the many are:

1) An awareness
of the commonality of our faith regardless of cultural
or political differences.

2) The example
of so many who have been faithful to Christ and his
mission under oppression, persecution and poverty.

3) The prayers
of nationals for our Southern Baptist missionaries and
their ministries.

4) The valiant
struggles for religious liberty, under hostile
governments, that have led to open doors for witnessing.

5) The
unpretentious lifestyles of thousands of our internationalBaptist friends lovingly teach us that self-indulgence, self-sufficiency,
self-gratification, self-righteousness and self-glorification are not the way of
the Master.

We believe
there are dozens of strategic reasons why such a course of action should not be
pursued, most of these being self-evident to the thousands of Southern Baptists
who have given of their time, prayers, resources and organizational skills to
assist our international Baptist brothers and sisters in building a fellowship
that transcends race, language, culture, gender, geography, social and economic
status, politics and government, and all forms of bias and tyranny over the
minds and lives of the children of God.

We therefore
implore the BWA Study Committee to withdraw its recommendation to the SBC
Executive Committee. If the committee chooses not to withdraw the recommended
action, we therefore respectfully request the Executive Committee, with love for
fellow Baptists worldwide, to defeat this recommendation and reaffirm our
commitment to the purpose and work of the Baptist World Alliance.

Adopted by the
Smithland Baptist Church, Heathsville, Virginia, in regular church business
meeting on this, the fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord, two
thousand and four.